Transcript Chapter 11 - Maples Elementary School

CHAPTER 11
T H E F I R S T WO R L D WA R
SECTION 1-WORLD WAR I BEGINS
CAUSES OF WWI
• Although many
Americans wanted to
continue their isolationist
approach and stay out
of Europe's conflicts
several factors including
industrial interests and
our position as a world
power made U.S.
neutrality difficult
CAUSES OF WWI
• Generally
historians cite four
long-term causes
of WWI:
• Nationalism
• Imperialism
• Militarism
• Alliance Systems
CAUSES OF WWI
• Nationalism-A deep devotion to one’s
own nation
• It can serve as a unifying force or the
catalyst for fierce competition among
others
• Ex. By the turn of the 20th century
Great Britain, Germany, Russia,
Italy, France and the AustriaHungarian empire were engaged
in a fierce rivalry
• Imperialism-For centuries European
nations had been building empires slowly
extending their economic and political
control around the world
CAUSES OF WWI
• Militarism-The policy of
glorifying military power and
keeping an army prepared
for war
• Alliance System-There were
two major alliance systems in
Europe at the beginning of
WWI
• The Triple Entente
• Later known as the Allies
• Triple Alliance
• Later known as the Central
Powers
CAUSES OF WWI
• Triple Entente-Britain’s alliance
with France and Russia
• Did not mean that Britain
would fight with them but it
did ensure they would not
fight against them
• By 1907 the Triple Alliance and
Triple Entente were the
strongest powers in Europe
and would soon lead them
into war
CAUSES OF WWI
• Triple Alliance-Alliance
between Germany,
Austria-Hungary and Italy
whose goal was to isolate
France
• Otto von Bismarck felt
that “As long as it is
without allies, France
poses no danger to us
(Triple Alliance)”
AN ASSASSINATION LEADS TO WAR
• In 1908 Austria-Hungary annexed
Bosnia and Herzegovina thus
creating tension in the region
• On June 28th, 1914 Gavrilo Princip
assassinated the Archduke Franz
Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in
Sarajevo, Bosnia.
• Princip was Serbian so the Austrians
declared war to punish Serbia
• Harsh demands were placed on Serbia
• Russia soon sided with Serbia and
soon the rest of Europe began to
take sides as well
SOURCE: JOHN T. MCCUTCHEON, CARTOONIST, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, AUGUST 5TH, 1914
THE FIGHTING STARTS
• Western Front- The
deadlocked region of
Northern France fought
over in WWI
• The Eastern Front-The
battlefield along the
German and Russian
border
• Russians and Serbs battled
Germans and AustroHungarians for control of the
Eastern front
THE FIGHTING STARTS
• Schlieffen Plan-The
Germany plan in
which they would
defeat France 1st
then turn east to fight
Russia
• A quick defeat of
France was vital to
the plan
THE FIGHTING STARTS
• Failures of the Schlieffen Plan• Sept. 5th, 1914 Allied forces
attacked the Germans northeast
of Paris in the valley of the Marne
River
• 600 taxicabs brought Allied
re-enforcements to the front
• Sept.9th, the Germans retreated
• The 1st Battle of the Marne left the
Schlieffen Plan in ruins b/c a
quick victory no longer existed
THE FIGHTING STARTS
• Trench Warfare-Soldiers would
fight from trenches often for
pitifully small pieces of land
• The space between the trenches was
called “no man’s land”
• The trenches along the Western Front
reached nearly 500 miles from the
North Sea to the Swiss border
• New Military Technologies• Machine guns, poison gas, tanks,
armored cars and submarines were
widely used for the 1st time in war
TRENCH WARFARE
AMERICANS QUESTION NEUTRALITY
• In 1914 many Americans felt we
had no reason to get involved in a
war 3,000 miles away.
• Most preferred an isolationist
approach
• Another issue was that many
former immigrants identified and
sympathized with the nations which
they came from.
• This divided Americans along ethnic
and social lines
• America’s economic ties also
played a role in our favored
position to support the Allies over
the Central Powers
THE WAR HITS HOME
• Unrestricted Submarine
Warfare- Germany
announced that their
submarines would sink any
ships in the water
surrounding Britain without
warning
• After the cruise ship Lusitania
was sunk by a German U-boat
leaving 1,198 passengers (128
of them American) dead the
U.S. threatened action if the
Germans continued to sink
neutral ships
THE WAR HITS HOME
• Americans Join the Fight• Germany returned to
unrestricted submarine warfare
in 1917
• The British Blockade• As the war raged on Great
Britain began blocking the
German coast to prevent
weapons and other military
supplies from reaching the
hands of the Germans
• By 1917, famine gripped
Germany resulting in nearly
750,000 Germans starving to
death
THE BRITISH BLOCKADE
THE WAR HITS HOME
• The Election of 1916• President Woodrow
running under the
slogan “He kept us
out of war” wins the
election against
Supreme Court
Justice Charles Evans
Hughes
THE UNITED STATES DECLARES WAR
• The Zimmerman Note- In
February, 1917 the U.S.
intercepted a German telegram
headed to Mexico
• Germany wanted Mexico to
join their fight and in return
they would help Mexico
“reconquer” the lands they
lost to the U.S.
• This led President Wilson to
ask for a declaration of war
against Germany on April
2nd, 1917
THE ZIMMERMAN NOTE
THE UNITED STATES DECLARES WAR
• America Acts• On April 2nd, 1917 President
Wilson delivered his war
resolution in which he
hoped to make the world
“safe for democracy”
• Congress granted a
declaration of war a few
days later allowing the
United States to enter
the war on the side of
the allies